Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 136
#136. The Unveiled Truth
2022.12.14.
"What, what on earth?"
The flustered Ayeon blinked rapidly.
She suspected that she was seeing things.
However, no matter how many times she blinked, the scene before her did not change.
Maestro was attacking as if he would kill her at any moment.
Doctor Plant, Roje.
'Why?'
For her, who had no way of knowing the context, it was a bewildering sight.
'Has he really gone mad?'
Ayeon seriously thought so.
To attack Doctor Plant after Unnie.
Even if he's an American, he was once Korean, so why is he doing that?
Meanwhile, Siwoo was just as bewildered by the scene before him.
To grasp the current situation as much as possible, he quickly scanned his surroundings with his blue eyes, but there were no traces around that could serve as a hint.
"Heok..."
A sound as if Roje's breath were being choked off came from between her parted lips.
It seemed that stopping Maestro was more of a priority than figuring out the situation for now.
C-crack...
Ice began to freeze sharply in the shape of Siwoo's hand blade.
It was just before Siwoo was about to throw an ice shard at Yijun.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Thump!
A massive figure suddenly appeared and stood between Roje and Yijun.
—It was the Monkey King Yoo Hwan.
Seeing him here as well, it was certain that he had been teleported here from the 'Scales of Choice'.
'So only Sunbae...'
Siwoo silently swung his hand blade, lightly cutting through the air.
The ice that had been attached to it magically disappeared.
Now that the Monkey King had arrived, there was no need to stop Yijun.
"Answer me, Maestro."
A seething anger could be felt in Yoo Hwan's coldly sunken voice.
Siwoo glanced sideways and confirmed his profile.
The fact that he was close to Doctor Plant was known to everyone in the Korean hunter world.
Yoo Hwan, who had been staring at Yijun with red eyes, fiercely clenched his massive, beast-like fist.
Crunch—
At that, something he was holding in his hand burst like a balloon.
Thwack!
Yoo Hwan roughly threw it to the ground.
It was the burst corpse of a snake.
The very same snake that had been choking Roje just moments ago.
Yijun's ash-gray eyes touched the snake's corpse on the ground, then slowly rose to meet Yoo Hwan.
As if he had no intention of answering Yoo Hwan's question, Yijun merely spat out a single short remark.
"Do not interfere."
Yijun, with his black suit fluttering, took a step towards Roje.
However, Yoo Hwan, as if not allowing his approach, extended his arm in front of Roje!
There was no discernible change in Yoo Hwan's expression.
However,
Crack, rumble, rumble...!
Thick cracks spread from his feet in a spiderweb pattern on the floor.
Thud, thud, thud...
Broken gravel fragments scattered in all directions.
The moment his red eyes flashed with a fierce glint, the air enveloping his skin changed considerably.
Yijun, who had been looking back and forth between Yoo Hwan and Roje, whom he was protecting, stopped his steps abruptly.
And so, neither approaching nor retreating, he maintained a certain distance from them and spoke.
"Don't you think it's strange?"
That question was directed not at Yoo Hwan, but at Siwoo and Ayeon.
"It's one thing for us who came from the 'Scales of Choice', but the fact that Doctor Plant, she is also here."
"..."
"..."
Siwoo and Ayeon gave no answer.
They too had questions about that point.
However, that alone could not justify Maestro's act of attacking her.
"...Don't tell me, not content with branding younger brother as a monster, you're now planning to brand Roje as one too?"
Yoo Hwan asked in a heavily suppressed voice.
"A monster in human form has already mixed among us. There's no guarantee she won't be the same."
Yijun, who had answered monotonously in an uninflected tone, took another step towards Roje.
"Move. I will confirm it."
However, naturally, Yoo Hwan did not move an inch.
"Are you planning to kill her?"
"If I must."
"..."
"..."
A sensation of the air enveloping the skin being stretched taut.
'Oh, how scary.'
Ayeon thought, her eyes rolling around.
Her skin tingled in the sharply changed atmosphere.
Unnie doesn't seem to be here... Should I just bolt?
While she was having such thoughts,
"What are you all talking about?"
Roje, who had been quiet until now, suddenly spoke.
A bright red mark, as if a rope had been tightly wrapped around it, still remained on her white, slender neck.
However, her face was only peaceful.
"Oh, Yoo Hwan, have you seen my Narae?"
She, who had been looking around, began to say strange things.
"Oh my, that's strange. I'm sure she was talking with me right here just a moment ago."
"...Roje."
Yoo Hwan called Roje lowly.
However, as if she couldn't hear him, she was lost in deep thought.
"Where on earth did she go? That child, I told her it's dangerous to wander alone..."
"Roje—!"
Suddenly, Yoo Hwan bellowed.
Roje, who had frozen like ice, looked up at him with wide eyes.
Only then did it become clear.
Her somewhat vacant, unfocused gaze.
As if she were completely possessed by something.
Roje, who had blinked slowly several times, opened her red lips creakily.
"Y-hwan..."
Roje, who had been staring blankly at him, suddenly shot up!
"Narae! My Narae is gone!"
Roje, frantically turning her head this way and that, checked her surroundings with bloodshot eyes.
"My Narae, my Narae is waiting for me! She's still here. Still... still here, I tell you!"
As if anxious, she bit her nails, then, as if tearing out her hair, she messed it up and glared at Yoo Hwan with flashing eyes.
"Yoo Hwan, it's your fault..."
Roje, rushing at Yoo Hwan, began to scratch his chest through his open dobok.
She scratched with her nails, clawed, and pounded as if to break it.
"You shouldn't have stopped me then! If it weren't for you... If it weren't for you, I could have found Narae...!"
Roje soon collapsed on the spot and began to sob loudly like a child.
My precious daughter Narae, my Narae...
She wrapped her arms around her neck, then, as if frustrated, she pounded her own chest.
Yoo Hwan, after staring blankly down at such a Roje, slowly bent his knees.
"...Roje, you'll get hurt."
Yoo Hwan reached out his hand as if to help her up.
However, Roje, as if Yoo Hwan were not even in her sight, collapsed on the floor and continued to wail.
"..."
"..."
Siwoo, Ayeon, and Yijun, from a short distance away, watched the scene without a word.
'Doctor Plant...'
Siwoo stared intently at Roje.
To anyone, she seemed to be not in her right mind right now.
He was even bewildered by her appearance, which was completely inconsistent with her usual calm demeanor.
However, Yoo Hwan's attitude towards such a Roje seemed very familiar and composed.
As if he had been seeing her in this state for a long time.
Siwoo glanced up and looked at Maestro, Yijun's, profile.
Yijun, who, like Siwoo, had been staring blankly at the two, Roje and Yoo Hwan, began to move slowly.
"I used a skill on her earlier."
Yijun spoke, taking a step.
"My 'domination' didn't work."
Taking another step, Yijun took out the black leather gloves he had temporarily put in his pocket.
"It means one of two things. The opponent is stronger than me... or."
Putting them on, Yijun slowly lifted his ash-gray gaze and looked at Roje as if to pierce through her.
"—The target is already in a 'dominated' state."
Ssshhh...
Below the goddess statue holding a sword and scales, a creepy wind swept past them.
In the silence, Yijun slowly opened his palm towards Roje.
Siwoo noticed.
Yijun was going to attack her.
Should I stop him?
That thought came to him, but he hesitated for a moment.
Doctor Plant was an S-Class asset and a valuable healing hunter.
No matter how much Yijun had branded Sunbae as a monster, it didn't seem likely that he would recklessly attack Doctor Plant just because she seemed to be not in her right mind.
Perhaps Yijun, rather than trying to kill Roje by attacking her, was trying to get some hint.
In a way only he could.
However.
"Maestro..."
Yoo Hwan, who had been protecting Roje, slowly stood up.
Whatever Yijun's intention was, it seemed Yoo Hwan intended not to let him touch a single fingertip of Roje.
Zzzzt, zzzzt...
Suddenly, black sparks began to fly throughout the field.
Siwoo glanced up.
Ayeon, who had been watching the situation without a word, did the same.
Was this Yijun's attack?
No.
But it wasn't the momentum or skill that Yoo Hwan had raised either.
Then this was...
It was the moment Siwoo, who had sensed something, snapped his head up.
Kwaaang—!!!
A roar that seemed to tear the ears, and a cloud of dust that rose up, covered the entire field of vision.
"Ugh..."
Siwoo reflexively lifted his arm to cover his eyes and nose.
Ayeon and Yijun did the same.
Yoo Hwan protected Roje with his massive upper body.
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
The ground began to rumble lowly.
What happened?
After the vibration had somewhat subsided, Siwoo lifted his gaze from where it was buried in his arm and confirmed the scene before him.
The first thing he saw was a tidal wave of black flames, as if to swallow everything, covering the field.
And...
"...!"
It was a pair of golden eyes, shining clearly in the hazy dust.
